Hurricane Bonnie (1992)
Hurricane Bonnie was the second named storm and second hurricane of the 1992 Atlantic hurricane season. Bonnie's origins were non-tropical, and it was a high latitude storm, forming on September 17 well to the southeast of Atlantic Canada. Bonnie quickly became a tropical storm, and then rapidly intensified into a Category 2 hurricane, reaching winds of 110 mph, just 1 mph shy of major hurricane status. Bonnie moved slowly throughout a good portion of its life, eventually reaching the Azores, where it brought tropical storm force winds before becoming extratropical on September 30. Bonnie caused no known damage, and no fatalities. Bonnie at peak intensity http://img360.imageshack.us/img360/3128/600pxbonnie21sept199218tg6.jpg Formation September 17, 1992 Dissipation September 30, 1992 Highest winds 110 mph Lowest pressure 965 mbar Deaths None reported Damages Unknown Areas affected Azores Part of the 1992 Atlantic hurricane season Meteorological history http://img360.imageshack.us/img360/1918/800pxbonnie1992trackwb8.png Bonnie's origins were non-tropical, and can be linked to a cold front that moved off the East Coast of the United States on September 11. The front continued moving southeast and became nearly stationary, with its western end near Bermuda on September 15. Surface pressures began to fall in the area, and on September 17, an area of convection became detached from the cold front. The system quickly organized, developing curved bands as well as a small Central Dense Overcast. At 1800 UTC September 17, the system was upgraded to a tropical depression. By 0600 UTC September 18, the depression strengthened into Tropical Storm Bonnie. As is typical for non-tropical cyclones at high latitudes such as Bonnie, the cyclone was initially embedded within an environment of weak steering currents. Bonnie moved slowly along a counter-clockwise course, and strengthened into a hurricane at 1800 UTC that day. On September 19, Bonnie began to move east-northeast to northeast. In addition, the cyclone began to develop a well-defined eye. On September 20, the eye became indistinct at times, but on September 21, satellite imagery indicated that it had once again become well-defined. At 1800 UTC September 21, Bonnie reached its peak intensity of 110 mph, and the cyclone was nearly stationary from this time until 1200 UTC September 23, when the hurricane began a drift to the west-southwest. During this time, Bonnie also began to weaken, with satellite imagery indicating that the low-level center had become exposed from the main area of deep convection. By September 24, Bonnie weakened to a tropical storm. By September 25, Bonnie lost most of its deep convection, and by 0600 UTC September 26, the cyclone briefly weakened to a tropical depression. However, Bonnie regained tropical storm status later that day as deep convection returned to the circulation center. On September 24, Bonnie began to move southward, and this motion would continue until September 26, at which point the storm began moving southeast and east, also picking up forward speed at this time. In spite of restrengthening to a tropical storm, Bonnie remained within an environment of strong westerly vertical shear on September 26 and 27, which caused the low-level center to be displaced west of the deep convection. On September 27, Bonnie's cloud pattern began to resemble that of a subtropical cyclone, but by September 28, convection once again developed around the center, and Bonnie's cloud pattern began to once again resemble that of a tropical cyclone. At this point, the cyclone was moving east-northeast, and it would maintain this course of the next few days with an increase in forward speed. On September 30, Bonnie passed through the Azores. Shortly thereafter, Bonnie became extratropical as the system lacked deep convection. Bonnie's extratropical remnants then decelerated and moved in a clockwise loop, eventually moving back toward the Azores before dissipating. Impact Bonnie produced tropical storm force winds across portions of the Azores, with sustained winds of 40 mph, along with gusts to 59 mph occurring at Lajes Air Force Base. No damage or deaths were reported in association with Bonnie. It should be noted that Hurricane Charley impacted the Azores just four days prior to Bonnie. Lack of Retirement Because of the lack of significant damage, the name Bonnie was not retired in the Spring of 1993 by the World Meteorological Organization. It was used again during the 1998 season, and also during the 2004 season, and is on the list of names to be used for the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season. See also * NHC Bonnie report * NHC Advisory Archives on Bonnie References http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/storm_wallets/atlantic/atl1992/bonnie/prenhc/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Bonnie_(1992) External links 1992 Atlantic hurricane season